here they are:
"Father Mountain" by Calexico and Iron & Wine: Yes, there are indie-folk bands who actually know each other! Calexico and Iron & Wine have actually known each other for awhile, but this is their first adult alt radio hit together. The words, "Father Mountain", sound almost like hippie-speak, as if it were a metaphor for nature. However, the "father" here is a literal one, with the song taking its title from the recurring line, "my father built a mansion on the mountain". As one might expect, the song blends the ultra-mellow vibes of Iron & Wine with the quaint country-rock of Calexico. The song appears to be about Sam Beam (Iron & Wine) and a girlfriend of his who lived in his father's house, named "Teresa" in the song.
"Get Out And Get It" by Devon Gilfillian: There's a bit of a '60s soul and '70s funk sound on this song, the debut song from Philadelphia native, Devon Gilfillian. The organ that resonates throughout the song gives it even more of a "vintage" sound. Apparently, the organ in the song reflects Devon's African roots, taking its influence from Nigerian music from the 1970's, and giving the song its unique, catchy flavor. The title of the song is exactly what Devon wants his listeners to feel like when hearing it. In other words, he wants them to feel like they're gonna "get out and get" the fresh soul grooves of this song!
"Patience" by Tame Impala: "Patience" is what Tame Impala's fans have been experiencing since 2015! Finally, their patience has paid off. And what has it brought us?! A song that sounds like it's from 1979, mixing disco music and Supertramp...yet at the same time, there's also a distinctly modern vibe to the song as only Tame Impala can bring it! Tame Impala are a clever and quirky enough band that "Patience" might just BE about how long they've waited to record a new song, or how long their fans have waited for such a thing to happen. The opening lines of the song are even, "Has it really been that long?" Yes, it has been that long. It's been four years. It's been worth the wait, though!
"Renegade" by Dylan LeBlanc: Not to be confused with 1970's rock anthem, "Renegade", by Styx...although this does have a slightly more rock vibe than Dylan's breakthrough single, "Cautionary Tale". Well, only slightly. Dylan LeBlanc's "Renegade" is still essentially folk-rock, but with more electric backing instrumentation. A bit stronger language than "Cautionary Tale", too, at least during the second verse, which is a bit of a shocker to me in what appears to be pretty laid back song. "Renegade" seems to be Dylan's attempt at doing "urban lyrical poetry" a la Bruce Springsteen. A bit of a grittier song than one might expect from Dylan LeBlanc, but it also adds more dimension and depth to his work.
"Trampoline" by Shaed: Being the "Simpsons" fan that I am, the first thing I think of when I hear the word, "trampoline", is Homer Simpson enthusiastically shouting, "TRAMPOLINE! TRAM-BOP-O-LINE!" Of course, Shaed's "Trampoline" has nothing to do with Homer and his eccentric family, but it's still funny to think about. What it's actually about is...well, not anything, really, but a bunch of sweet, dreamy imagery meant to sync with the sound of chilled out electro-pop. The lyrics and music match up well here, inviting the listener to dive into a pool of hypnotic emotions and sound.
Showing posts with label Iron and Wine. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Iron and Wine. Show all posts
Wednesday, April 3, 2019
Wednesday, November 14, 2018
New songs for November 14th 2018
here they are:
"Change" by The Revivalists: "Change" is an apt title for this song, since it is a change from the boastful pop flourish of The Revivalists' previous hit, "All My Friends". Here, the New Orleans octet goes back to the blues-rock they were originally known for before they hit the big time. Not only is the song catchy, but it is clever as well, making more than one use of the word "change" in its lyrics. The chorus uses the word twice: "You've got some CHANGE inside your pocket, but it doesn't CHANGE a thing". This is The Revivalists the way they were meant to sound!
"Dark Dark Dark" by Gregory Alan Isakov: Gregory Alan Isakov has been around for a while now, but this marks the first time I've really heard his music. Mixing the intimate folk-rock of Damien Rice with the down home-y country-rock of The Avett Brothers, Gregory weaves an enchanting, wistful tale in "Dark Dark Dark". The song is an ode to the narrator's girlfriend, presumably named Maria (is the same Maria who showed up in countless Counting Crows songs?!), with reflective, nature laden imagery that wouldn't sound out of place in an Iron & Wine tune. The peaceful calm of songs like this make life worth living to me!
"Elastic Days" by J. Mascis: And now, here comes some more charmingly esoteric folk-rock from the formerly noisy Dinosaur Jr. frontman, J. Mascis. Just a few weeks ago, I was reviewing Mascis' "See You At the Movies", and he's already come out with another new song for the year that adult alt radio stations are gravitating towards! How about that?! Anyway, although both this song and "See You At the Movies" are essentially folk-rock tunes, "Elastic Days" leans even more towards folk-rock than "See You At the Movies" did. "Elastic Days" has a softer backing electric guitar than "See You At the Movies" did. So what does J mean by "the sky is back to all elastic days?" Perhaps only J himself knows the answer to that one. However, the song is not meant for lyrical analyzation as much as it is meant for people to take a breather from an otherwise hectic day, so let's go with the flow here, as Mascis has probably intended for us to do!
"Last of Your Rock 'N' Roll Heroes" by Iron & Wine: There's not a whole lot of rock 'n' roll in this song. It's more just folk music with a catchy drumbeat. The song hearkens back to the simple but weighty lyricism of early R.E.M. tunes, with its title repeated many times throughout the song, and its short, simple verses coming off as oblique but still somewhat meaningful. Sam Beam's music may be rooted in folk, but he is still a rock and roll fan, and with rock heroes leaving the planet by the thousands these days (if not the millions), perhaps that's where he was coming from with the song's title and idea.
"When Bad Does Good" by Chris Cornell: And speaking of fallen rock and roll heroes, here's one who made his exit in the summer of last year. "When Bad Does Good" is a posthumous release in the Chris Cornell catalog. The sweet but powerful "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" seemed to be an apt swan song for Chris, but the beginning of "When Bad Does Good" almost sounds like an ascent into heaven, as though he KNEW how he was going to decide his own fate back when he came up with the idea for this song! Why he chose not to release this beautiful song during his lifetime is anyone's guess, but perhaps he wanted listeners to feel like he was calling to them from heaven when he did this song. Life and death are curious phenomena in the human lifespan, and Cornell captures them both here perfectly!
"Change" by The Revivalists: "Change" is an apt title for this song, since it is a change from the boastful pop flourish of The Revivalists' previous hit, "All My Friends". Here, the New Orleans octet goes back to the blues-rock they were originally known for before they hit the big time. Not only is the song catchy, but it is clever as well, making more than one use of the word "change" in its lyrics. The chorus uses the word twice: "You've got some CHANGE inside your pocket, but it doesn't CHANGE a thing". This is The Revivalists the way they were meant to sound!
"Dark Dark Dark" by Gregory Alan Isakov: Gregory Alan Isakov has been around for a while now, but this marks the first time I've really heard his music. Mixing the intimate folk-rock of Damien Rice with the down home-y country-rock of The Avett Brothers, Gregory weaves an enchanting, wistful tale in "Dark Dark Dark". The song is an ode to the narrator's girlfriend, presumably named Maria (is the same Maria who showed up in countless Counting Crows songs?!), with reflective, nature laden imagery that wouldn't sound out of place in an Iron & Wine tune. The peaceful calm of songs like this make life worth living to me!
"Elastic Days" by J. Mascis: And now, here comes some more charmingly esoteric folk-rock from the formerly noisy Dinosaur Jr. frontman, J. Mascis. Just a few weeks ago, I was reviewing Mascis' "See You At the Movies", and he's already come out with another new song for the year that adult alt radio stations are gravitating towards! How about that?! Anyway, although both this song and "See You At the Movies" are essentially folk-rock tunes, "Elastic Days" leans even more towards folk-rock than "See You At the Movies" did. "Elastic Days" has a softer backing electric guitar than "See You At the Movies" did. So what does J mean by "the sky is back to all elastic days?" Perhaps only J himself knows the answer to that one. However, the song is not meant for lyrical analyzation as much as it is meant for people to take a breather from an otherwise hectic day, so let's go with the flow here, as Mascis has probably intended for us to do!
"Last of Your Rock 'N' Roll Heroes" by Iron & Wine: There's not a whole lot of rock 'n' roll in this song. It's more just folk music with a catchy drumbeat. The song hearkens back to the simple but weighty lyricism of early R.E.M. tunes, with its title repeated many times throughout the song, and its short, simple verses coming off as oblique but still somewhat meaningful. Sam Beam's music may be rooted in folk, but he is still a rock and roll fan, and with rock heroes leaving the planet by the thousands these days (if not the millions), perhaps that's where he was coming from with the song's title and idea.
"When Bad Does Good" by Chris Cornell: And speaking of fallen rock and roll heroes, here's one who made his exit in the summer of last year. "When Bad Does Good" is a posthumous release in the Chris Cornell catalog. The sweet but powerful "Nearly Forgot My Broken Heart" seemed to be an apt swan song for Chris, but the beginning of "When Bad Does Good" almost sounds like an ascent into heaven, as though he KNEW how he was going to decide his own fate back when he came up with the idea for this song! Why he chose not to release this beautiful song during his lifetime is anyone's guess, but perhaps he wanted listeners to feel like he was calling to them from heaven when he did this song. Life and death are curious phenomena in the human lifespan, and Cornell captures them both here perfectly!
Wednesday, September 5, 2018
New songs for September 5th, 2018
here they are:
"Cumberland Gap" by Jason Isbell: Jason Isbell's 2017 album might just be his best one yet! First he gave us a taste of furious Southern rock with "Hope the High Road", then he gave us a bittersweet, reflective folk-rock song with "If We Were Vampires", and NOW we have a song that sounds like The Pixies by way of Bruce Springsteen, or maybe the other way around, with "Cumberland Gap". With a title like that, I'd have expected this song to be one of his more countrified musical numbers, but nothing could be further from the truth! "Cumberland Gap" seems to pick up where "Hope the High Road" left off, with more protest fueled lyrics, much like "...High Road" had. Jason's disappointed and angst ridden conclusion in the chorus is a righteous cry of, "Maybe the Cumberland Gap swallows you whole!" Sometimes, the real world is just too much to think about these days. That's one of the many reasons songs like this one can come in handy!
"Date Night" by Father John Misty: Only Father John Misty can take a song that sounds vaguely similar to Nirvana's "Rape Me" and make it sound sort of like a Harry Nilsson tune. If this sounds too weird for you, don't worry. You only have to suffer through 2 and a half minutes of this. For the rest of us, this song is pure blissed out bliss! FJM is such a weird dude that I'm not even sure what "Date Night" is supposed to mean in the context of this song. Heck, I'll be lucky if I can figure out what ANY of this song means! But that's FJM for ya. His charm is in his eccentricity!
"Feed the Fire" by Dawes: Dawes recently opened for 1970's rock group, Electric Light Orchestra. In "Feed the Fire" they SOUND like ELO. Well, sorta. Perhaps a band like Steely Dan might be a more appropriate comparison, (esp. for its "Do It Again"-esque sitar solo) but in any case, they sound like they're straddling the line between hippie and hipster like they usually do. What they mean here by "feed the fire" is that they're trying to satisfy themselves artistically. "Fire" is a word that takes on multiple meanings here. It can mean just the burning desire for something to happen, but here, it also means being destructive, like a fire, since living an "artistic" lifestyle can often lead to having detrimental impulses. The Dan-esque guitar in the song is important here, since it contributes vastly to the song's almost 6 minute length.
"Four Leaf Clover" by The Kooks: The Kooks are usually at their best when they do light, airy power pop songs like "She Moves In Her Own Way", "Shine On", and "Junk of the Heart (Happy)". After moving more towards a post-punk/funk hybrid in their more recent songs, Luke Pritchard and the boys have now returned to their power pop roots in "Four Leaf Clover". The song is really a sex, drugs, and rock & roll song disguised as something sweeter and happier, but Kooks fans needn't care about that, as long as they like the music of it!
"Waves of Galveston" by Iron & Wine: And last but not least for this week, Sam Beam is another who has returned to his musical roots with "Waves of Galveston". The song picks up, musically speaking, from where IAW's last song, "Call It Dreaming", left off. "Waves of Galveston" is an equally beautiful song that uses a similar technique of using just acoustic guitar and vocals, instead of adding background instruments as IAW have been prone to do in recent years. The song has a Joni Mitchell-ish flavor to it, and perhaps that's because of its DADF#AD tuning, which Joni has used for many of her songs as well. The song has actually had a longer life than this year, dating back to 2013, when Sam Beam was asked to write a song about Texas. This masterpiece is what he came up with, and now we finally get to hear the studio version of it!
"Cumberland Gap" by Jason Isbell: Jason Isbell's 2017 album might just be his best one yet! First he gave us a taste of furious Southern rock with "Hope the High Road", then he gave us a bittersweet, reflective folk-rock song with "If We Were Vampires", and NOW we have a song that sounds like The Pixies by way of Bruce Springsteen, or maybe the other way around, with "Cumberland Gap". With a title like that, I'd have expected this song to be one of his more countrified musical numbers, but nothing could be further from the truth! "Cumberland Gap" seems to pick up where "Hope the High Road" left off, with more protest fueled lyrics, much like "...High Road" had. Jason's disappointed and angst ridden conclusion in the chorus is a righteous cry of, "Maybe the Cumberland Gap swallows you whole!" Sometimes, the real world is just too much to think about these days. That's one of the many reasons songs like this one can come in handy!
"Date Night" by Father John Misty: Only Father John Misty can take a song that sounds vaguely similar to Nirvana's "Rape Me" and make it sound sort of like a Harry Nilsson tune. If this sounds too weird for you, don't worry. You only have to suffer through 2 and a half minutes of this. For the rest of us, this song is pure blissed out bliss! FJM is such a weird dude that I'm not even sure what "Date Night" is supposed to mean in the context of this song. Heck, I'll be lucky if I can figure out what ANY of this song means! But that's FJM for ya. His charm is in his eccentricity!
"Feed the Fire" by Dawes: Dawes recently opened for 1970's rock group, Electric Light Orchestra. In "Feed the Fire" they SOUND like ELO. Well, sorta. Perhaps a band like Steely Dan might be a more appropriate comparison, (esp. for its "Do It Again"-esque sitar solo) but in any case, they sound like they're straddling the line between hippie and hipster like they usually do. What they mean here by "feed the fire" is that they're trying to satisfy themselves artistically. "Fire" is a word that takes on multiple meanings here. It can mean just the burning desire for something to happen, but here, it also means being destructive, like a fire, since living an "artistic" lifestyle can often lead to having detrimental impulses. The Dan-esque guitar in the song is important here, since it contributes vastly to the song's almost 6 minute length.
"Four Leaf Clover" by The Kooks: The Kooks are usually at their best when they do light, airy power pop songs like "She Moves In Her Own Way", "Shine On", and "Junk of the Heart (Happy)". After moving more towards a post-punk/funk hybrid in their more recent songs, Luke Pritchard and the boys have now returned to their power pop roots in "Four Leaf Clover". The song is really a sex, drugs, and rock & roll song disguised as something sweeter and happier, but Kooks fans needn't care about that, as long as they like the music of it!
"Waves of Galveston" by Iron & Wine: And last but not least for this week, Sam Beam is another who has returned to his musical roots with "Waves of Galveston". The song picks up, musically speaking, from where IAW's last song, "Call It Dreaming", left off. "Waves of Galveston" is an equally beautiful song that uses a similar technique of using just acoustic guitar and vocals, instead of adding background instruments as IAW have been prone to do in recent years. The song has a Joni Mitchell-ish flavor to it, and perhaps that's because of its DADF#AD tuning, which Joni has used for many of her songs as well. The song has actually had a longer life than this year, dating back to 2013, when Sam Beam was asked to write a song about Texas. This masterpiece is what he came up with, and now we finally get to hear the studio version of it!
Wednesday, June 14, 2017
New songs for June 14th 2017
here they are:
"Blue Magic" by Son Little: Son Little's debut song, "The River", brought 1950's style blues into the 21st century! Now, Son Little has turned more towards early 1970's R & B for "Blue Magic". Plenty of funky riffs interspersed with soothing wind instrumentation to be found here. Like its title implies, there is something magical about this song. It's as though you're floating on air when you listen to it!
"Call It Dreaming" by Iron & Wine: After a few albums of experimenting with a full band sound, Sam Beam returns to his acoustic roots with his latest song, "Call It Dreaming". There isn't a lot of instrumentation in this one aside from acoustic guitar and very light percussion. It may be getting close to summer right now, but for Sam, every day is autumn in bittersweet songs like this one. In the chorus of the song, he states, "Where we drift and call it dreaming, we can weep and call it singing". Pure poetry!
"Die Young" by Sylvan Esso: A song that came out around the time I was born by James Taylor stated, "never die young". Sylvan Esso take the opposite approach of what James did on their latest tune. This is evident as early as Sylvan Esso's opening lyrics for the song, "I was gonna die young", suggesting the song might be about an attempted suicide. The rather dour, minor key tone of "Die Young" isn't exactly heartwarming either. The soft to loud synth taking the lead on this song makes it seem like the folks at Nintendo decided to compose a grunge song. Live fast if you must, but please, never die young!
"Perfect Places" by Lorde: The New Zealand pop starlet continues to contemplate whether or not she wants such a status in her second big 2017 song, "Perfect Places". She repeatedly pines in the song how "it's just another graceless night" every time she goes out to hook up with someone. "Every night I live and die, meet somebody, take 'em home" is also a central line in this world weary song. By the end of the song, she wonders just what "perfect places" are to begin with, since every hookup she has just ends up in misery. This song might sound like pop music to the casual listener, but the lyrics seem to be the closest thing to Joy Division that an adolescent has attempted so far!
"Blue Magic" by Son Little: Son Little's debut song, "The River", brought 1950's style blues into the 21st century! Now, Son Little has turned more towards early 1970's R & B for "Blue Magic". Plenty of funky riffs interspersed with soothing wind instrumentation to be found here. Like its title implies, there is something magical about this song. It's as though you're floating on air when you listen to it!
"Call It Dreaming" by Iron & Wine: After a few albums of experimenting with a full band sound, Sam Beam returns to his acoustic roots with his latest song, "Call It Dreaming". There isn't a lot of instrumentation in this one aside from acoustic guitar and very light percussion. It may be getting close to summer right now, but for Sam, every day is autumn in bittersweet songs like this one. In the chorus of the song, he states, "Where we drift and call it dreaming, we can weep and call it singing". Pure poetry!
"Die Young" by Sylvan Esso: A song that came out around the time I was born by James Taylor stated, "never die young". Sylvan Esso take the opposite approach of what James did on their latest tune. This is evident as early as Sylvan Esso's opening lyrics for the song, "I was gonna die young", suggesting the song might be about an attempted suicide. The rather dour, minor key tone of "Die Young" isn't exactly heartwarming either. The soft to loud synth taking the lead on this song makes it seem like the folks at Nintendo decided to compose a grunge song. Live fast if you must, but please, never die young!
"Perfect Places" by Lorde: The New Zealand pop starlet continues to contemplate whether or not she wants such a status in her second big 2017 song, "Perfect Places". She repeatedly pines in the song how "it's just another graceless night" every time she goes out to hook up with someone. "Every night I live and die, meet somebody, take 'em home" is also a central line in this world weary song. By the end of the song, she wonders just what "perfect places" are to begin with, since every hookup she has just ends up in misery. This song might sound like pop music to the casual listener, but the lyrics seem to be the closest thing to Joy Division that an adolescent has attempted so far!
Wednesday, February 24, 2016
New songs for February 24th 2016
here they are:
"Every Songbird Says" by Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop: This is probably the first Sam Beam song in which Sam actually goes by "Sam Beam" instead of "Iron & Wine". This is also a song in which Sam goes back to his Iron & Wine roots, opting for a pure acoustic song instead of one of the more experimental percussion-driven numbers he's attempted on his past few albums. The lyrics of "Every Songbird Says" are also less complex than most IAW songs as well. It is a love song, pure and simple, that seemed like it was specifically designed for Sam and Jesca to duet on even though they're not a couple (Sam's wife is a woman named Kim). A charming and lovely duet nonetheless, though.
"Water" by Ra Ra Riot: Ra Ra Riot are like a lesser-known Arcade Fire in that their musical arrangements and instrumentation tend to vary from song to song. The last song Ra Ra Riot had a hit with, "Boy", was part baroque-pop and part Police-ish fusion of reggae and rock. "Water" is more driven by piano than it is by orchestral instruments. A more synth-y sound makes its way towards the middle of the song and stays there from that point on. Imagine if Foster the People attempted to do a '90s trip-hop style song and you'd probably get a good idea of what "Water" sounds like. The lyrics of "Water" tend to be about trying to escape the harshness and boredom of everyday life, with the title of the song being a metaphor for "cleansing" oneself of daily responsibility.
"Every Songbird Says" by Sam Beam and Jesca Hoop: This is probably the first Sam Beam song in which Sam actually goes by "Sam Beam" instead of "Iron & Wine". This is also a song in which Sam goes back to his Iron & Wine roots, opting for a pure acoustic song instead of one of the more experimental percussion-driven numbers he's attempted on his past few albums. The lyrics of "Every Songbird Says" are also less complex than most IAW songs as well. It is a love song, pure and simple, that seemed like it was specifically designed for Sam and Jesca to duet on even though they're not a couple (Sam's wife is a woman named Kim). A charming and lovely duet nonetheless, though.
"Water" by Ra Ra Riot: Ra Ra Riot are like a lesser-known Arcade Fire in that their musical arrangements and instrumentation tend to vary from song to song. The last song Ra Ra Riot had a hit with, "Boy", was part baroque-pop and part Police-ish fusion of reggae and rock. "Water" is more driven by piano than it is by orchestral instruments. A more synth-y sound makes its way towards the middle of the song and stays there from that point on. Imagine if Foster the People attempted to do a '90s trip-hop style song and you'd probably get a good idea of what "Water" sounds like. The lyrics of "Water" tend to be about trying to escape the harshness and boredom of everyday life, with the title of the song being a metaphor for "cleansing" oneself of daily responsibility.
Wednesday, March 6, 2013
New songs for March 6th, 2013
here they are:
"Bang Bang, Boom Boom" by Beth Hart: Beth debuted back in the early 2000's with the Alanis Morissette-ish "L.A. Song", but I would think that that's a song she'd rather forget about, because ever since then, she's gone in a more blues-y, jazzy direction. Her latest song, "Bang Bang, Boom Boom", takes her brand of blues-rock in a direction that is rarely touched upon in music these days. Instead of using the guitar as the dominant instrument, the piano takes center stage for "Bang Bang, Boom Boom", and it works really well in this song, too! Instead of using the piano in a delicate, fragile manner, Beth puts it to use as though it's a seductive instrument being used in a cabaret or a nightclub. The syncopation in the song is set to a marching rhythm, adding yet another element to "Bang Bang, Boom Boom" that makes it one hot firecracker of a song!
"Grace For Saints And Ramblers" by Iron and Wine: As you might expect, Iron & Wine's latest song is a folk-rock song. What you might not have expected is for that song to be a happy one instead of a sad one. "Grace For Saints And Ramblers", the most recent song from IAW, has more orchestration than most of the songs from Sam Beam's one man band. The combination of acoustic guitars with sax and violins is closer to recent indie-pop stars like Regina Spektor and Belle & Sebastian than it is to IAW's usual influences, such as the more somber, stark folk-rock of Nick Drake and Elliott Smith. The lyrics are pure abstraction (for instance, "Bodies full of penny wishes, parties full of pretty dishes, side by side with the birds and bees"...Huh?!), but at least it shows that Sam Beam is more of a free spirit than his fans might like to think he is!
"Hacienda Motel" by Pickwick: Pickwick's sound is probably a bit too close to bands like Modest Mouse and Dr. Dog to be as memorable as their rhyming name, but their back story is still an interesting one! Originally their sound was closer to a neo-folk-rock type, a la Ryan Adams, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket, but they wanted to change things up a bit for themselves once they found out that pretty much everyone was trying to sound like that, so they decided to go with more of an "alternative soul" sound instead. "Hacienda Motel", the first song so far to get attention from Pickwick, was like a "bridge song" for the band, because it officially marked the point when they quit on folk-rock, and started up on the indie-pop world's answer to neo-soul. What can I say, it never hurts to try something different!
"Staying Alive" by The Whigs: Before I review this song, I'd like to issue a warning to any Bee Gees fans that might be reading this review. This song is NOT a cover of The Bee Gees' "Staying Alive", it's a completely different song!! Now that I've gotten that out of the way, on with the song. Like The Whigs' previous song, "Waiting", "Staying Alive" boasts a blues-y brand of indie rock comparable to bands like The Hold Steady and The Gaslight Anthem, both of whom can be described as a "missing link" between Bruce Springsteen and The Replacements. "Staying Alive" could be said to be even more Springsteen-ian than The Hold Steady or The Gaslight Anthem, since it has a soulful sax solo that the late Clarence Clemons would probably be proud of if he got the chance to hear it! Not exactly the longest song in the world, and nor is it too heavy on lyrics, but "Staying Alive" still manages to be the perfect combination of gritty, working class roots rock and soulful, spirited jazz-rock!
"The Stars Are Out Tonight" by David Bowie: For a rocker that has been around for nearly 4 decades now, Bowie is still making waves to this very day with his music!! As was the case with his "Where Are We Now" from January of this year, "The Stars Are Out Tonight" is the most heavily anticipated song of this week, as far as material on the adult alt charts goes!! "The Stars Are Out Tonight" has a bit more of a psychedelic influenced sound than the almost crooner-ish sound of "Where Are We Now?", but it still manages to sound like nothing I've ever heard! This song is just more proof of what a "chameleon" Bowie truly is when it comes to how many styles of rock (and popular music in general, really) he has covered. The theme of stars in the song is also interesting, as it could reflect both Bowie's lifelong fascination with outer space, or it could also mean "stars" as in "celebrities". The world may never know!!
"Bang Bang, Boom Boom" by Beth Hart: Beth debuted back in the early 2000's with the Alanis Morissette-ish "L.A. Song", but I would think that that's a song she'd rather forget about, because ever since then, she's gone in a more blues-y, jazzy direction. Her latest song, "Bang Bang, Boom Boom", takes her brand of blues-rock in a direction that is rarely touched upon in music these days. Instead of using the guitar as the dominant instrument, the piano takes center stage for "Bang Bang, Boom Boom", and it works really well in this song, too! Instead of using the piano in a delicate, fragile manner, Beth puts it to use as though it's a seductive instrument being used in a cabaret or a nightclub. The syncopation in the song is set to a marching rhythm, adding yet another element to "Bang Bang, Boom Boom" that makes it one hot firecracker of a song!
"Grace For Saints And Ramblers" by Iron and Wine: As you might expect, Iron & Wine's latest song is a folk-rock song. What you might not have expected is for that song to be a happy one instead of a sad one. "Grace For Saints And Ramblers", the most recent song from IAW, has more orchestration than most of the songs from Sam Beam's one man band. The combination of acoustic guitars with sax and violins is closer to recent indie-pop stars like Regina Spektor and Belle & Sebastian than it is to IAW's usual influences, such as the more somber, stark folk-rock of Nick Drake and Elliott Smith. The lyrics are pure abstraction (for instance, "Bodies full of penny wishes, parties full of pretty dishes, side by side with the birds and bees"...Huh?!), but at least it shows that Sam Beam is more of a free spirit than his fans might like to think he is!
"Hacienda Motel" by Pickwick: Pickwick's sound is probably a bit too close to bands like Modest Mouse and Dr. Dog to be as memorable as their rhyming name, but their back story is still an interesting one! Originally their sound was closer to a neo-folk-rock type, a la Ryan Adams, Wilco, and My Morning Jacket, but they wanted to change things up a bit for themselves once they found out that pretty much everyone was trying to sound like that, so they decided to go with more of an "alternative soul" sound instead. "Hacienda Motel", the first song so far to get attention from Pickwick, was like a "bridge song" for the band, because it officially marked the point when they quit on folk-rock, and started up on the indie-pop world's answer to neo-soul. What can I say, it never hurts to try something different!
"Staying Alive" by The Whigs: Before I review this song, I'd like to issue a warning to any Bee Gees fans that might be reading this review. This song is NOT a cover of The Bee Gees' "Staying Alive", it's a completely different song!! Now that I've gotten that out of the way, on with the song. Like The Whigs' previous song, "Waiting", "Staying Alive" boasts a blues-y brand of indie rock comparable to bands like The Hold Steady and The Gaslight Anthem, both of whom can be described as a "missing link" between Bruce Springsteen and The Replacements. "Staying Alive" could be said to be even more Springsteen-ian than The Hold Steady or The Gaslight Anthem, since it has a soulful sax solo that the late Clarence Clemons would probably be proud of if he got the chance to hear it! Not exactly the longest song in the world, and nor is it too heavy on lyrics, but "Staying Alive" still manages to be the perfect combination of gritty, working class roots rock and soulful, spirited jazz-rock!
"The Stars Are Out Tonight" by David Bowie: For a rocker that has been around for nearly 4 decades now, Bowie is still making waves to this very day with his music!! As was the case with his "Where Are We Now" from January of this year, "The Stars Are Out Tonight" is the most heavily anticipated song of this week, as far as material on the adult alt charts goes!! "The Stars Are Out Tonight" has a bit more of a psychedelic influenced sound than the almost crooner-ish sound of "Where Are We Now?", but it still manages to sound like nothing I've ever heard! This song is just more proof of what a "chameleon" Bowie truly is when it comes to how many styles of rock (and popular music in general, really) he has covered. The theme of stars in the song is also interesting, as it could reflect both Bowie's lifelong fascination with outer space, or it could also mean "stars" as in "celebrities". The world may never know!!
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
New songs for June 15th, 2011
here they are:
"Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)" by Portugal. The Man: Thought maybe this was from the same album as their Fall 2010 hit, "People Say", but apparently this is on an album that hasn't been released yet! Guess the soul-meets-alternative vibes of "People Say" were THAT popular!! In "Got It All...", Portugal. The Man continue with the same brand of feel-good indie music they started off with. The falsetto vocals in the chorus seem like a distinguishing, important feature of this song, as they are not only part of what makes this song so fun for me to listen to, but also what could set it apart from being mistaken for a Modest Mouse or Vampire Weekend song.
"Me And Lazarus" by Iron & Wine: The "neo-psychedelic" vibes of this song seem to pick up where the more mellow, folk-y vibes of their previous hit (and their biggest, so far), "Tree By the River" left off. It has factors that most IAW songs don't have. For instance, a sax solo in the middle of the song that seems to be inspired by some of the songs that '60s rock band Traffic often put into their music, as well as some electronic sounding instruments that sound like they'd be more at home on a video game than a song. The rubbery distortion of the electric guitar on this song does a great job of setting "Me And Lazarus" apart from other IAW songs (which, for the most part, lack electric guitars and rely more on acoustic guitars). If you long for the days of psych-rock masterpieces like The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and Traffic's "Paper Sun", then please give "Me And Lazarus" a nice, solid listen!
"Perfume" by Old '97s: On this track, Rhett Miller and co take a breather from the fast, driving rock 'n' roll sound of their previous hit, "Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)". "Perfume" sounds more like the typical '97s song, with its somewhat country-fied indie sound. The chord progression in this song seems to have become rather cliche now in rock music (the same type of progression gets used on The Beatles' "Let It Be" and Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger"), but the rhythm of the song is one that doesn't get used very often in the genre, and I also really like the subtle, tinkly piano sound sprinkled within the chorus of the song.
"So Beautiful Or So What" by Paul Simon: The lyrical content of this song seems rather abstract upon first listen, but such is the beauty of this song! It seems to be a bunch of "slice of life" stories rolled into a single song. As for the music? Well, I think that's what drives this song more than anything! It's very rhythmic, with its staccato beat pulsating through the drums and guitar throughout the song, so it's very easy to get stuck in your head. Having heard this song and his other big song of 2011, "The Afterlife", I'd say Paul Simon's latest album could very well qualify as being called a "sequel" to his 1986 magnum opus, "Graceland".
"Got It All (This Can't Be Living Now)" by Portugal. The Man: Thought maybe this was from the same album as their Fall 2010 hit, "People Say", but apparently this is on an album that hasn't been released yet! Guess the soul-meets-alternative vibes of "People Say" were THAT popular!! In "Got It All...", Portugal. The Man continue with the same brand of feel-good indie music they started off with. The falsetto vocals in the chorus seem like a distinguishing, important feature of this song, as they are not only part of what makes this song so fun for me to listen to, but also what could set it apart from being mistaken for a Modest Mouse or Vampire Weekend song.
"Me And Lazarus" by Iron & Wine: The "neo-psychedelic" vibes of this song seem to pick up where the more mellow, folk-y vibes of their previous hit (and their biggest, so far), "Tree By the River" left off. It has factors that most IAW songs don't have. For instance, a sax solo in the middle of the song that seems to be inspired by some of the songs that '60s rock band Traffic often put into their music, as well as some electronic sounding instruments that sound like they'd be more at home on a video game than a song. The rubbery distortion of the electric guitar on this song does a great job of setting "Me And Lazarus" apart from other IAW songs (which, for the most part, lack electric guitars and rely more on acoustic guitars). If you long for the days of psych-rock masterpieces like The Beatles' "Tomorrow Never Knows" and Traffic's "Paper Sun", then please give "Me And Lazarus" a nice, solid listen!
"Perfume" by Old '97s: On this track, Rhett Miller and co take a breather from the fast, driving rock 'n' roll sound of their previous hit, "Every Night Is Friday Night (Without You)". "Perfume" sounds more like the typical '97s song, with its somewhat country-fied indie sound. The chord progression in this song seems to have become rather cliche now in rock music (the same type of progression gets used on The Beatles' "Let It Be" and Oasis' "Don't Look Back In Anger"), but the rhythm of the song is one that doesn't get used very often in the genre, and I also really like the subtle, tinkly piano sound sprinkled within the chorus of the song.
"So Beautiful Or So What" by Paul Simon: The lyrical content of this song seems rather abstract upon first listen, but such is the beauty of this song! It seems to be a bunch of "slice of life" stories rolled into a single song. As for the music? Well, I think that's what drives this song more than anything! It's very rhythmic, with its staccato beat pulsating through the drums and guitar throughout the song, so it's very easy to get stuck in your head. Having heard this song and his other big song of 2011, "The Afterlife", I'd say Paul Simon's latest album could very well qualify as being called a "sequel" to his 1986 magnum opus, "Graceland".
Wednesday, January 12, 2011
First blog of the new year!!!
And it's eclectic as ever!! Neo-folk-rockers Iron & Wine, a classic rock comeback from Gregg Allman of The Allman Brothers Band, and blues-rock/neo-soul group JJ Grey and Mofro. Here goes!!
"Hide And Seek" by JJ Grey and Mofro: JJ Grey and Mofro are one of those self-consciously "retro" acts, but the last two tracks I heard from them ("Orange Blossoms" and "The Sweetest Thing") seemed to evoke mid '60s soul with a touch of blues guitar. "Hide And Seek" progresses forward another decade to the '70s with its funk influences. Perhaps the highlight of this song is the keyboard (?) solo in the middle, this side of "Superfreak"! All in all, this is a sleek, funky track to start out the new year!
"Just Another Rider" by Gregg Allman: For those expecting another "Whipping Post", you'll probably be let down. However, this isn't the mellow-ish country-rock Gregg Allman of "Melissa" and "Blue Sky" fame, either. Instead this is more of a jazzy, soul-inflected tune with blues/rock guitar solos in between. This song would probably be perfect to those who like blues with a jazzy flavor (or vice versa), with its minor chord chorus, and its blues-y sounding lyrics ("just another rider on the train to nowhere"). Never would have expected one of The Allman Brothers to come out with one of the first good tracks of the new year, but I guess that means 2011 will have some good stuff up ahead!
"Tree By the River" by Iron & Wine: When I heard earlier on that IAW were going to be "going electric", I expected to hear influences a la Neil Young's "Down By the River". Thankfully, Sam Beam and co have kept the mellow in their music, despite the absence of (fronting) acoustic guitars in "Tree By the River". "Tree" evokes the more calming side of the "psychedelic" era (think early Moody Blues, "Pet Sounds" era Beach Boys, etc.) This being IAW, as well as a fine piece of "neo-folk-rock", "Tree By the River" is probably my fave release so far of the new year!
"Hide And Seek" by JJ Grey and Mofro: JJ Grey and Mofro are one of those self-consciously "retro" acts, but the last two tracks I heard from them ("Orange Blossoms" and "The Sweetest Thing") seemed to evoke mid '60s soul with a touch of blues guitar. "Hide And Seek" progresses forward another decade to the '70s with its funk influences. Perhaps the highlight of this song is the keyboard (?) solo in the middle, this side of "Superfreak"! All in all, this is a sleek, funky track to start out the new year!
"Just Another Rider" by Gregg Allman: For those expecting another "Whipping Post", you'll probably be let down. However, this isn't the mellow-ish country-rock Gregg Allman of "Melissa" and "Blue Sky" fame, either. Instead this is more of a jazzy, soul-inflected tune with blues/rock guitar solos in between. This song would probably be perfect to those who like blues with a jazzy flavor (or vice versa), with its minor chord chorus, and its blues-y sounding lyrics ("just another rider on the train to nowhere"). Never would have expected one of The Allman Brothers to come out with one of the first good tracks of the new year, but I guess that means 2011 will have some good stuff up ahead!
"Tree By the River" by Iron & Wine: When I heard earlier on that IAW were going to be "going electric", I expected to hear influences a la Neil Young's "Down By the River". Thankfully, Sam Beam and co have kept the mellow in their music, despite the absence of (fronting) acoustic guitars in "Tree By the River". "Tree" evokes the more calming side of the "psychedelic" era (think early Moody Blues, "Pet Sounds" era Beach Boys, etc.) This being IAW, as well as a fine piece of "neo-folk-rock", "Tree By the River" is probably my fave release so far of the new year!
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